SAO: A Different Point of View
by TheFinalPancake
Summary: The story of Sword Art Online, told from the point of view of an English Student living in Japan, also trapped inside SAO.


**Beeeeeeefore I begin, I know there are stories similar to this, but if it gets some attention, then I'll be doing fan service and stuff! You know, like, adding more OC's, if I feel it would contribute to the story. That okay with you guys? I don't expect this will be super famous, but I'm writing this for pure enjoyment after all! By the by, if I get some detail wrong about how things happened in SAO, then please do correct me!**

**I don't own SAO (sadly)**

James McWilliams sat on the end of his bed, looking down at the helmet in awe. It was a navy colour with the words printed in black above the visor: Nerve Gear. Nerve Gear. That was the name of this wondrous machine.

He had no idea how it worked - something about reading neural activity. But that wasn't what interested him. He was awed by what he had heard it could do. Full immersion in a video game was something he had dreamed of ever since he had begun gaming. But today, the technology was finally here.

He plugged in the gear with an Ethernet cable (cabled internet was always faster) and a power cable, slipped it onto his head and lay down on his bed in the centre of his room. A broad grin spread on his face as he shouted the command: "Link start!"

The world dissolved in a flash of colour and all feeling stopped - he couldn't feel his back pressing against the matress. A room came into view with a holographic keyboard at it's centre. A message appeared, floating in the centre of the room: "Please enter the required information." After a moment's hesitation, James leaned over and typed the username he used for all of his accounts. When it came to gender, he chose male, obviously, and gave his actual height and weight data.

"Thank you." said a voice that seemed to come from everywhere. "You will now be teleported to the Starting City.

Blue light enveloped him, but when it vanished, he wasn't in the beginning room. He was standing in a huge city, bustling with players already equipped with armor and weapons. He glanced down at his clothes, which probably wouldn't be able to block a single sword strike. He also noticed that he had no weapon. There's an issue, he thought as he inspected his pitifully empty inventory. Upon checking his balance, however, he realized that he did have some cash, 5000... cor? "I guess cor is the currency here, huh." He murmured to himself.

After stumbling around through the city, looking through various shops owned by NPC's, he managed to find himself a black Gi, like he wore to Karate classes. It gave him a small bonus in his «Hiding» and his «Martial Arts» skill. A nearby shop sold «Uncommon Weaponry», meaning things like maces, whips and clubs. He wouldn't have come here, but he'd guessed that they sold «Bo Staff» type weapons. The only reason that he didn't purchase a sword was because he had no experience with one. He had, however, trained with a bo staff several times in the real world, in a Karate lesson.

In the end, he settled for a «Wooden Bo Staff». It was essentially a stick, about 15 centimeters shorter than him, with a lump of wood on either end. With his remaining cor, he bought a leather sash with a clip on it, so he could attatch the «Wooden Bo Staff» to his back. He'd heard all about the «Sword Skill» system in this game, but wasn't sure if they could be used with one of these, so he clipped the staff to his back and headed out into the field.

Roughly ten minutes later, he stood in a flat, grassy area, with some kind of boar staring at him, it's eyes glowing red. Immediately, he un-clipped his «Wooden Bo Staff» and stood with one end of it resting on his shoulder. The boar charged, just as the end of the «Wooden Bo Staff» was enveloped by blue light, moving of it's own accord at a blinding speed from top right to the bottom left of his view. It struck the boar solidly on the head and it was flattened against the ground, where he finished it off with a normal swing downwards. In front of him, a window appeared, listing the money he gained - 30 cor. He was about to congratulate himself when a voice came from behind him.

"Uhh... you wouldn't mind showing me the basics, would you?"

He turned, to see a guy with flaming red hair and freckles covering his face.

"I guess not, but I'm a noob as well - everything I just did was guesswork."

"Oh... well, anyway, we can help each other! I'm DustBunnies, but just call me Dust - using full usernames is annoying."

"Sure, I'm Zuka."

**After writing this, I realize that I need to say - if anyone a username the same as a character here, then that character is in no way intended to represent that person.**


End file.
